Modeling a
Positive Attitude
I remember crying to my mom about how
unfair it was that I was being pulled
from my current school, away from all
my friends, to attend a special needs
school across town. Of course I got a
healthy dose of her positive thinking
wisdom with one of her favorite sayings,
“Honey, always remember, success is
an inside job and the true winners of
the world learn to play with the hand
they’ve been dealt.” Of course this made
no sense to me for I had no idea what
poker was at that age, but I figured it
must be important for she was always
saying it. It often made me wonder, what
could this woman, who was riddled with
chronic illness, possibly know about
raising healthy kids?
She Knew Everything.
She knew that a positive attitude and a
winning mindset were the greatest gifts
she could pass on to her offspring. Mom
battled terminal cancer in the late 60’s
with brutal radiation treatments and
experimental drugs that drove her to the
brink of exhaustion, all while raising
four children as a single mom during an
economic environment similar to today.
When she feared death was looming,
she opened an art studio in St. Matthews
against sound business advice, and
she attacked the venture like Jeannie
C. Riley in Harper Valley PTA, ignoring
the stiff suits who tried to put her down.
After winning Best of Show at St. James,
Cherokee Triangle, and many other prominent art fairs, she died a millionaire with
a decade-long waiting list to take lessons
from her. I can still hear her as if I were
on her lap, “Remember, most points in
a football game are scored in the fourth
quarter. Make every second count!”
That is the kind of healthy mind-set I am
constantly trying to instill in my children. I don’t know if they’re hearing me,
but I am bombarding them with positive
thinking all the same. I’m not sure when
I actually heard my mom, but I know it
was always there on some level. After
all, this piece was written by a guy
with dyslexia who couldn’t read until
he was 12. — John G. Warren

Veggie Week!
Several years ago my husband and I tried a
vegetarian experiment with disastrous results.
Always up for a challenge, we thought that by
eating only vegetarian meals for a week, we
might discover some meatless recipes to add to
our regular meal rotation and to help lower our
high cholesterol.
The first meal of the week, Kidney Bean,
Barley, and Sweet Potato Stew, was tasty, and
the next meal, Grilled Vegetable Quesadillas,
was even more delicious. We were off to a
terrific meatless start, and on Day 3, we would
eat the most-anticipated meal of the week:
Eggplant Parmigiana, complete with a layer of
tofu. (Tofu! No one could say we were amateur
vegetarians now.) After spending hours cooking my eggplant masterpiece, we eagerly dug in
to the most disgusting thing we’d ever tasted.
The tofu layer tasted nothing like cheese, the

eggplant was a squishy, juicy mess, and our
gag reflexes were working overtime. The next
day, my husband, pushed over the edge by
the leftover tofu for lunch, revolted against
Vegetarian Week and took us to Olive Garden
for a big bowl of Italian sausage.
Since that dreadful week, I’ve grown in my
culinary skills, expanding my repertoire of
healthy and meatless meals to include a variety of Indian curries and a spicy West African
beans and rice. Admittedly, my kids don’t
always love the vegetarian meals that we eat
at least once a week. They say things like, “I
don’t LIKE beans!” or “What IS that stuff?” or
“Do I HAVE to eat the quinoa?” I like to think
that one day, though, when their lives are full
of steak and pizza, and they’re trying to lower
their cholesterol, they will look back and
appreciate my efforts at fixing healthy food.
Yes, kids, you do have to eat the quinoa. After all,
Dad and I had to eat the tofu. — SANDI HAUSTEIN

Have You Checked His Eyes?
I didn’t know he couldn’t see. I knew that my youngest child always sat close to the television
and constantly held the remote control. I thought it was just a power thing between him and his
older brother. When I took him to the optometrist — after being referred by his kindergarten —
he said my child could not see very well. I felt guilty. He had never complained about his vision;
he had always seen the world through those eyes and he did not know what he was missing.
I had always taken my children to the doctor for well-baby check-ups, shots, and illness
visits in a timely manner. With five children, that was not always easily done, but I got it done.
Maintaining a healthy body was important because an illness had the potential to
spread throughout the group and to sideline all family activities for a while.
As a mom, I learned that day that I did not have all of the immediate
answers for my child’s every need, and that there would be times when I
would have to depend on more learned professionals in certain areas in
order to make beneficial decisions for him.
The doctor advised that I buy two pair of glasses for him. He predicted
that my son would destroy the first pair and would need a spare pair as he
made the adjustment to wearing glasses. He was right; the first pair was
destroyed the first week. I was grateful for having followed his advice.